Those lights and decorations are going up!
Author Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho Tep) is about to bring his zombies to the big screen.

Lansdale’s latest short story, to be released in early 2011, is ready to be made into a movie: “Christmas with the Dead.”

The author will act as an executive producer on the project. Damian Maffei will star for director Brian James Fitzpatrick. Marcus Koch with Oddtopsy F/X is scheduled to create the special effects for the movie.

Shooting begins this June in Nacogdoches, Texas, where Lansdale has lived with his wife for the past thirty years. In a nod to Joe’s affiliation as writer-in-residence at the Stephen F. Austin University, Lansdale will be employing the use of many of the students, as well as the use of some of the school’s state of the art equipment. Joe sees this association with the university as an opportunity to give the students a hands-on film-making experience.

“I’m excited about it moving forward and very fortunate to have some fine people at the helm. I’m looking forward to begin filming this summer,” says Landsdale.

Fitzpatrick is thrilled to be part of the project, It’s all coming together very quickly – taking on a life of its own – which I think is what happens with strong projects where everyone has the same vision; the same passion. And a Lansdale zombie movie is pretty damn strong.”

As for the film’s synopsis, Landsdale breaks it down like this: It was a foolish thing to do, and Calvin had not bothered with it the past two years, not since the death of his wife and child. But this year he decided quite suddenly, that tomorrow was Christmas Eve. And zombies be damned, the lights and decorations are going up…